End construction for multi-gusset bag



July -27, 1965 E. MEYERHOEFER 3,197,118

' END CONSTRUCTION FOR MULTI-GUSSET BAG Filed May 17, 1963 INVENTOR W i.

BY a M ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,197,118 END *CQNSTRUCTZGNIUEJLTl-GUSEQE BAG Carl E. ldeyerhocfer, 264-34} fitlth Ave, LittleNeel: NE. Filed May 17, 1963, 2L No. 281,685 3 @iairns. (Cl. 229-625)This invention relates to the construction or" the ends of bags thathave multi-pleat sides, and more especially to the construction of bagsof air-pervious paper for use in vacuum cleaners. The invention relatesalso to methods of making such bags.

Paper vacuum cleaner bags are expendable products and they must be of aconstruction that can be manufactured at low cost. For cleaners wherethe dust-laden air enters at one end of the bag, it is usual to have thebag closed at the other end by bringing the front and back walls of thebag together with the sides folded between them to make a fiat endclosure. Where the inlet pipe for the dust-laden air enters the bag atthe middle, or at some other location intermediate t e ends, aneconomical construction is obtained by having flat end closures at bothends. The cost of the manufacture of such bags is greatly reduced byhaving a construction which is made on conventional bag-making machines.This results in high-speed manufacture and reduced capital investment.It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method formaking vacuum cleaner bags suitable for conventional bag-makingmachines.

In order to use fiat end constructions where the front and back wallshave the sides folded between them, and at the same time have the bagcapable of opening to its full cross section at short distances from thefiat ends, it is necessary to have mult-i-pleat sides for the bag sothat none of the folds of the pleats extends inward very far from thelongitudinal edges of the bag at the closed ends where the pleats arecramped together by the front and back walls.

Multi-pleat constructions bring special problems, however, in obtainingan end construction which is air-tight. If there are any open placesalong the ends where dustladen air can escape from the bag, theconstruction is not suitable for use in vacuum cleaners.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved bag for vacuumcleaners and to provide, more especially, an improved construction forbags having multi-pleat side walls. This improved construction isobtained by terminating the ends of the bag blanks with each panel ofevery pleat on each side ending at a dif ferent place and a little shortof the end or" the next underlying panel so as to leave an area of theunderlying panel exposed where the underlying panel extends beyond theend of the one above it. Adhesive is applied from one side to all of theexposed areas and they are secured to a common surface by folding overan end portion of the bag to bring these exposed areas of the panelsinto confronting relation with the common surface on the other side ofthe fold.

In the preferred construction, all of the panels of the side walls,except the'panels which join directly to the front and back walls of thebag, terminate inward from the edges of the bag so that the lowermostpanel can be exposed along its entire longitudinal edge to seal the endsof the fold in the end closure.

Other objects, features and advantages of the inven- Eddllld ice tionwill appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric View showing a bag made in accordance with thisinvention with the bag partially expanded by pressure of air within thebag;

FIGURES 2 and 3 are slightly enlarged sectional views taken on the lines22 and 33, respectively, of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the method by which the bagblanks for this invention are formed from a single web and separatedalong incised tear lines;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary plan view, partly broken away andin section,showing the construction of the bag in more detail than in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view, partly on the lines s of FIGURE 5.

FZGURE 1 shows a vacuum cleaner bag it having a front wall .12, backwall 14 and a side wall 16 having pleats which provide a plurality ofpanels 21, 22, 23 and The bag can be made with more pleats, ifdesirable.

Referring next to FIGURE 3, the panel 21 joins the back wall 14 along afold line 25, and joins the next panel 22 along a fold line 27 at aninside fold.

The panels 22 and 23 join one another in an outside fold along a foldline 28. The panels 23 and Z4 join one another in an inside fold along afold line 29. On the other side of the panel 24, it joins the front wall12 along a fold line 3%. In the illustrated construction, the front andback walls 12 and 14 are of one-piece construction with the panels21-24, and the bag is made from a fiat web which is folded into a tubeand seamed along a longitudinal seam 32 located at an intermediateregion between the edges of the back wall 14. 7

There is an opening 36 in the front wall 12 for receiving an inlet pipethrough which dust-laden air is discharged into the interior of the bagwhen used in a vacuum cleaner. In order to reinforce the front wallopening 36, a stiff collar 38 (FIGURE 2) is secured to the front wall 12by an annular area of adhesive 4% The shape of the collar 33 dependsupon the design of the vacuum cleaner in which the bag is intended to beused. The particular bag illustrated in the drawing has an upper flap 42hinged to the upper portion of the collar 38 and capable of swingingback into the position shown for fitting into the portion of the vacuumcleaner that holds the bag in assembled relation with the inlet pipe. Asealing ring 46 is secured to the front surface of the collar 33 aroundthe opening for preventing leakage of air between the inlet pipe and theedges of the opening in the bag that receives the air inlet pipe.

FIGURE 4 shows a web 50 of air-pervious paper from which the bags ofthis invention are manufactured. This web 5t; travels through aconventional bagrnalring machine and has slits 51, 52, 53 and 54 cutthrough the paper. In addition to these slits 51-54, other cutters formincised tear lines including transverse tear line 56 connecting thelower ends of the slits 52 and 53. The cutters also make another incisedtear line 57, which extends from the upper end of the slit 52 to thelower end of the slit 51. This incised tear line 57 has some portionswhich have longitudinal components to their direction of extent, forreasons which will be explained in connection with FIGURE 5. There isanother incised tear line extending transversely from the upper end ofthe slit 51 to the edge of the web 59'.

The cutters make an incised tear line 61 which joins the slits 58 and 54and which is similar to the tear line 57 with the necessary reversal forthe fact that the tear line 61 is on the other side of the center lineof the web from the tear line 57. At the upper end of the slit 54 thereis formed another incised tear line 62 extending transversely to theedge of the Web. In the illustrated construction, the lines 56, 58 and62 are at right angles to the longitudinal edges of the web 50, but thisis not an essential feature of the invention.

The web 59 is folded into a tube with the edges overlapping toform theseam 32, in accordance with conventional practice. The proportions ofthe various slits and, incised tear lines are'such that the lines 58 and62 provide a continuous tear line across one side of the folded web, andall of the slits and the other incised tear lines are located on theother side of the tubed web The successive bag blanks are subjected to asnap action to tear each end blank from the remainder of the tubed web50' at a severing station 64. This operation is well known in thebag-making art and the only novelty in FIGURE 4 is the shape andcorrelation of the slits and tear lines along which the bag blank istorn from the tubed web It is important to note in FIGURE 4 that the bagblank 10 has its front wall 12 terminating along an edge 66 which isformed by tearing of the tubed web along the lines 53 and 62 while theback wall 14 extends beyond the front wall 12 to an edge 68 which isformed by tearing of the paper along the incised tear line 56. The otherend of the bag blank 10 has just the opposite condition with the frontwall 12 longer than the back wall 14. This opposite condition is thatrepresented by the end of the tubed web 50 from which the bag 10 issevered at the severing station 64.

FIGURE 5 shows the end of the bag 10 on a larger scale. The end edges ofthe panels 21-24 in FIGURE 5 are indicated by the same referencecharacters as the slits and tear lines where severance of the paperformed the end edges, but with a prime appended to the referencecharacters. The panel 24 extends beyond the edge 66 of the front Wall 12and terminates along an edge having a sloping portion 52 and a straighttransverse portion 57a. The panel 23 has an end adge 57b and the panel22 has an end edge 57c. All of these edges 57a, 57b and 570' are formedby severing the tubed web along the incised tear line 57.

The last panel 21 has its end edge formed by a portion 57d which is atright angles'to the edge of the bag and another portion 51 which extendsto the corner of the bag with a substantial longitudinal component ofdirection.

It will be apparent that by having all of the fold lines 1 for thepanels, except the fold lines which join the front and back walls of thebag, inward from the edges of the bag, there is an area of the panel 21exposed throughout the entire length of that panel from the edge 66 tothe edge 63, and all of the other panels have exposed areas for coatingwith'adhesive indicated by stippling of the surface and designated by:the reference character 70.

The adhesive 70 can be applied to the portion of the back wall 14 whichis exposed beyond the edge 66, and can be applied to an area of thefront wall 12 over, an area equal to that of the exposed surface of theback wall 14. When the portion of the back wall 14, which extends beyondthe edge 66, is then folded at the edge 66 and over the surface of thefront wall 12 it forms an end panel 72, as illustrated in FIGURE 6, theconfronting surfaces on opposite sides of the fold are bonded togetherby the adhesive. It is not necessary to have adhesive on both of theconfronting surfaces and in practice it is preferable to have only oneface on the inside of the fold coated with adhesive.

Because of the exposure of the panel 21 along the full length of thefold, on both sides of the fold, the adhesive forms an air-tight sealaround the right end of the bag and the exposed areas of the panels 22,23 and 24 by being bonded to the confronting surface of the front wall12, provide a connection for preventing the panels from separating andopening up the fold which closes the end of the bag. At the opposite endof the bag, from that shown in FIGURE 5, the fold will be in the otherdirection. This other fold is indicated generally by the referencecharacter '76 in FIGURE 6, it being understood that the construction atthis other end of the bag is identical with that described in FIGURE 5except that the exposures are all toward the back of the bag instead oftoward the front and the front wall 12 is the longer Wall and the onethat is folded over to form an end panel 86 that closes the other end ofthe bag.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, but changes and modifications can be made and some featurescan be used in different combinations without departing from theinvention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A vacuum cleaner bag comprising a sheet of airpervious paper havingan edge at one end wth a center portion substantially normal to thelongitudinal edges of the sheet and extending for substantially lessthan one-half of the transverse width of the sheet, said edge havingshort angularly extending portions at opposite ends of the centerportion and diverging angularly from one another in the direction of thelongitudinal edges of the sheet, other portions of the edge immediatelybe yond the short angularly extending portions and of greater lengththan said short angularly extending por tion and diverging from oneanother along at least a part of their length with the divergence at amuch greater angle than that of the short angularly extending portions,a second pair of short angularly extending portions of the edgeimmediately beyond said other portions, the remainder of the edgeextending to the longitudinal edges of the sheet along portions that aresubstantially normal to the longitudinal'edges, a complementary edge atthe other end of the sheet, the sheet being folded into a tube havingfront and back walls and with its longitudinal edges secured together tomake a seam, and the sides of the tube being folded along longitudinallines into multiple gussets across the part of the sheet that istraversed by all of the angularly extending portions of the ends of thesheet, the ends of the bag being folded in opposite directions to closethe bag with the fold at least as far from the end'of the sheet as isany portion of the end edges of the sheet, and adhesive on the faces ofthe sheet that confront one another after folding, the bag having anopening through one side thereof for receiving the air pipe of a vacuumcleaner.

2. The bag described in claim 5 characterized by the wall which has theopening therein being reenforced with a stiff collar surrounding saidopening and secured to the area of the wall of the bag.

3.'The bag described in claim 1 characterized by there being at leastfour panels formed by the multiple gussets ineach side wall and all ofthe folds at connections of the panels to one another being spacedinward from the longitudinal side edges of the front and back walls ofthe bag, and the edges of the panels being correlated to leave anexposed area of the lowermost gusset panel exposed for the fulllongitudinal distance from the end of the front wall to thecorresponding end of the back wall.

(References on following page) 5 6 References Cited by the Examiner2,085,766 7/37 Potdevin.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,864,462 12/58 Brace 229--62.5 205133 6/78 P ItFOREIGN PATENTS 0 er. V v 392,964 1.1/88 McC-ulla 229-- 58 5 55656 12/38Denmark 421 191 2 90 Pol-ten GEORGE O. RALSTON, Primary Examiner.426,607 4/90 Single 229-58 FRANK B. SHERRY, Examiner.

1. A VACUUM CLEANER BAG COMPRISING A SHEET OF AIRPERVIOUS PAPER HAVINGAN EDGE AT ONE ND WITH A CENTER PORTION SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THELONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THE SHEET AND EXTENDING FOR SUBSTANTIALLY LESSTHAN ONE-HALF OF THE TRANSVERSE WIDTH OF THE SHEET, SAID EDGD HAVINGSHORT ANGULARLY EXTENDING PORTIONS AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE CENTERPORTION ASND DIVERGING ANGULARLY FROM ONE ANOTHER IN THE DIRECTION OFTHE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THE SHEET, OTHER PORTIONS OF THE EDGEIMMEDIATELY BEYOND THE SHORT ANGULARLY EXTENDING PORTIONS AND OF GREATERLENGTH THAN SAID SHORT ANGULARLY EXTENDING PORTION AND DIVERGING FROMONE ANOTHER ALONG AT LEAST A PART OF THEIR LENGTH WITH THE DIVERGEANCEAT A MUCH GREATER ANGLE THAN THAT OF THE SHORT ANGULARLY EXTENDINGPORTIONS, A SECOND PAIR OF SHORT ANGULARLY EXTENDING PORTIONS OF THEEDGE IMMEDIATELY BEYOND SAID OTHER PORTIONS, THE REMAINDER OF THE EDGEEXTENDING TO THE LONGITUDIANL EDGES OF THE SHEET ALONG PORTIONS THAT ARESUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES, A COMPLEMENTARY EDGE ATTHE OTHER END OF THE SHEET, THE SHEET BEING FOLDED INTO A TUBE HAVINGFRONT AND BACK WALLS AND WITH ITS LONGIGUDINAL EDGES SECURED TOGETHER TOMAKE A SEAM, AND THE SIDES OF THE TUBE BEING FOLDED ALONG LONGITUDINALLINES INTO MULTIPLE GUSSETS ACROSS THE PART OF THE SHEET THAT ISTRAVERSED BY ALL OF THE ANGULARLY EXTENDING PORTIONS OF THE ENDS OF THESHEET, THE ENDS OF THE BAG BEING FOLDED IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS TO CLOSETHE BAG WITH THE FOLD AT LEAST AS FAR FROM THE END OF THE SHEET AS ISANY PORTION OF THE END EDGES OF THE SHEET, AND ADHESIVE ON THE FACES OFTHE SHEET THAT CONFRONT ONE ANOTHER AFTER FOLDING, THE BAG HAVING ANOPENING THROUGH ONE SIDE THEREOF FOR RECEIVING THE AIR PIPE OF A VACUUMCLEANER.